Today is Bóndadagur, or Husband’s Day, when wives and girlfriends in Iceland pamper their men. Bóndadagur also marks the beginning of the old Icelandic month of Þorri, during which Þórrablót mid-winter feasts are held across the country. In many households, Bóndadagur is celebrated by eating the traditional Þorri food: dried fish, smoked lamb, putrefied shark and soured blood and liver pudding, along with other soured meat products, including ram testicles. …

McDonald’s has denied a report by French weekly L’Express that claims the US fast-food giant transferred profits abroad to evade French taxes.

According to the report, published in the French magazine’s Wednesday edition, McDonald’s has transferred 2.2 billion euros to foreign tax havens since 2009.L’Express, quoting French tax officials, says the money was sent to subsidiaries in Luxemburg and Switzerland “thereby evading VAT and corporate taxes in France”. …

Research featuring scientists from Cardiff University into genetic mutations of those with schizophrenia has shed new light on the disorder.In the largest genetic study of its kind, published in the Journal of Nature, the international research team, led by Cardiff University, examined new genetic mutations in people with the mental health condition. …

Offshore wind energy is continuing to grow off the German coast as the country remains dedicated to its energy transformation. But conservationists are concerned about the effects the industry is having on animals. …

The federal government will introduce several changes to Canada’s citizenship rules after members of Parliament return to Ottawa next Monday following a six-week hiatus, says Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. …

“The dictatorship not only closed publishing houses and burned books, it added the IVA tax on books,” the Books Without IVA manifesto reads.The campaign — formed to rid Chile of its 19 percent book tax — claims the value added tax (IVA in its abbreviated Spanish form) on books is the most onerous in the Western Hemisphere, and has led to a culture in which few read for pleasure and books are seen as luxury items. …

Suing the tobacco industry, that’s been tried before, they have a never ending warchest…..and many customers hooked. They should contribute big time to health care, for the people who may suffer from their poisonous product.

HeyJude

I see the US and Canada both have citizenship issues. The one that seems the most simple to solve would be the “tourism” issue. This is the one thing that has never made sense to me….if neither parent is a permanent resident, I would think that the babies should be the same citizenship of the parents. I would hardly expect to be visiting a country while pregnant, having the baby there, and it’s citizenship to be French, German, Filipino, Vietnamese, or anything else. A baby of visiting US parents should automatically be a US citizen, and same for Canadian, no?

Canukistani

I agree completely. There’s no reason to grant citizenship to anyone born in a country just because the parents happened to be passing through. I think that should be pretty easy to resolve, too so normally I’d be pleased to see it dealt with.

But I’m also deeply suspicious of what the Cons are going to try to include in this bill. I’m sure there’ll be something pretty nasty in it because that’s the way they’ve been operating all along.

The talk about the ability to strip citizenship away from someone in ‘exceptional cases’ is one thing that makes me wary. I’d want to see those cases spelled out in very explicit language. I’d also I’d want there to be significant protections against expanding that ability in the future without some kind of all-party agreement.

Whenever this government puts something forward there’s always a hidden agenda and an ulterior motive, so I’d rather wait and see a future, more trustworthy government tinkering with something that could have such serious implications.

HeyJude

I do agree, Canuk….it really does matter who does the tinkering and what the motivations are. If the wrong people start “fixing” things, you know that it’s going to be awful. All of us should go ahead and fix that tourism thing, but after that…. best to be very, very careful.